What's making children unhappy?

The Good Childhood Report by the Children's Society found that 10 to 12 year olds in England ranked 14th out of 15 nations for happiness, behind Germany, Spain and South Africa; the UK has also come far down similar global lists drawn up by UNICEF. Modern stress could be to blame for increasing child depression in the the UK; more teenagers are now turning to counselling to help them cope with the pressures of social media - research has also linked Facebook with depression in young adults and children. Bullying, including cyber-bullying and self harm, was reported as the main issues of concern by ChildLine last year. Overall, 35,244 of the counselling sessions held by the service in 2014/15 were related to low self-esteem and unhappiness.

Prof. Mark Williams at Oxford University, confirmed that "technostress" was growing. "Every generation thinks it is more stressed than the last. It's usually not true but this time it looks [as if] it is. That's because this is the first generation that is constantly flitting between the actual, real world and the virtual world of the internet. It's not multitasking, it's multi-switching - and there are switching costs, mainly distraction, exhaustion, irritability and mood swings."

British nine and ten-year-olds are also getting the least sleep, the main reason appearing to be the use of electronic devices in the bedroom. This was found to be a common phenomenon in affluent countries, where we are more likely to buy children electronic devices and allow them in their bedrooms. Today, children are likely to own more toys and gadgets than ever before, yet the Unicef global report on child well-being found that children are not getting happier the more they own, instead, British parents could be trapping their children in a cycle of "compulsive consumerism". As children spend more time online, social media addiction is also becoming a problem - this website offers advice to parents on how to protect their children.

What About YOUth?

The new Health Behaviours in Young People (What About YOUth?) Tool provides local authority level estimates for several topic areas, based on what 15-year olds themselves said about their attitudes to healthy lifestyles and risky behaviours, including diet and physical activity, smoking, alcohol, use of drugs, bullying and wellbeing. For each topic area, the information is shown by ethnicity, deprivation, sexuality, region and local authority. The data is based on the What About YOUth 2014 survey.

Time for Wellbeing

Figures show that more than half of UK teachers are thinking about leaving the classroom within the next two years, largely as a result of stress, heavy workloads and low morale. To help address this issue and the wellbeing of pupils, Nuffield Health will be launching a pilot project at Wood Green School in Oxfordshire by sponsoring a head of wellbeing for two years.

Some of the tasks for the jobholder will be to look at the link between student wellbeing and attainment, to investigate new ways to use classroom time to increase wellbeing and campaigning to improve mental and physical health, with a focus on exercise and nutrition  The wellbeing of the staff will also be a primary concern; as part of this pilot, teachers will receive a health MOT, which will highlight healthy changes they can make to their routines. The role will also involve engagement with the local community, in particular parents.

On the subject of wellbeing, many UK schools have introduced yoga and are seeing the benefits to their staff and pupils. The Yoga At School website offers a range of articles, case studies and resources for teachers.

Child Health Profiles

Public Health England have published this year's Child Health Profile, providing analysis and key findings for each top level local authority in England. Updated annually, these provide a snapshot of performance against 32 selected indicators compared with the rest of England. The profiles are designed to help local authorities and health services improve the health and well-being of children and to tackle health inequalities. 

Too much homework?

The debate on whether homework should be scrapped has been an long-standing one. Now, excessive homework is being blamed on the rise of mental health illness in children and young people. A “high-stakes achievement culture” is also being cited amongst the reasons given for a rise in anxiety and depression. This follows on from a recent announcement by Cheltenham Ladies’ College, that it will be carrying out a review on whether to abolish homework. However, when one school in New York decided to scrap homework, parents were not pleased....

And whilst the West has been inspired by the success of Asian education systems, a report by Professor Yong Zhao indicates that Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Shanghai are turning their attention to cultivating “twenty-first century skills” in their children, such as creativity, communication, collaboration and higher order thinking skills; they are also more concerned about student social-emotional and physical health.

C ... is for Childlink

If you're not yet familiar with Childlink, here's an introduction - it is an online resource designed to give current articles, reports, research and statistics on education, employment, health, lifestyle, welfare and youth issues. Childlink can be found in the 'E-Resources' list on the Library page of the Portal. A number of Study Guides show how Childlink can be used as a useful study and teaching tool across various courses.

Register for free and receive their weekly update by email.